WEBVTT - Actor & Activist John Leguizamo 0:00:00.280 --> 0:00:03.160 I pitched stories for three decades, and I kept thinking 0:00:03.200 --> 0:00:04.040 my writings suck. 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:05.400 But it wasn't my writing. 0:00:05.400 --> 0:00:09.160 I'm winning awards on Broadway, I'm winning Tony's, Obie's Drama critics, 0:00:09.400 --> 0:00:12.119 but I can't sell a script because they were Latin stories. 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:16.079 Man, what's handed? Man? You got mar Shin, Besmall Lynch. 0:00:15.960 --> 0:00:21.320 Doug Hendrickson and Gavin knwsome and you're listening to politicals. 0:00:20.200 --> 0:00:32.360 You're going to be, you're known to be. So look, man, 0:00:32.400 --> 0:00:34.440 I'm gonna tell you like this. I had an interesting 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:37.879 conversation with this very smart gentleman, and he told me 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:41.400 not to be speaking on shit and just let shit 0:00:41.520 --> 0:00:44.920 happen organically. And then all of a sudden I heard 0:00:44.960 --> 0:00:49.840 I'm being what is that ship called endorsed? I'm being 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.480 endorsed by the fucking governor of California around for mayor 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.160 of Oakland. So you know, I don't know if how 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.520 this how this uh, how wise this wise man is 0:01:00.520 --> 0:01:02.800 who told me to let this shit happen organically? 0:01:03.240 --> 0:01:03.800 I told you. 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.679 I got a bunch of people called me, their potential 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:09.960 opponents of yours, saying is this real? 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:11.440 What the hell's going on? 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.400 This is BS? I love mar Sean, but what the hell? 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:17.080 You can't be serious about. 0:01:16.760 --> 0:01:19.240 This like that? But I am, though, you know what 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:23.040 I mean? Like, so, man, I be listening to these uh, 0:01:23.600 --> 0:01:27.640 these politicians and shit, man, and you know I ain't 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.160 I ain't into all of that shit. But you know 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:32.200 when I be listening to them talk and they be 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:35.440 saying all this shit, and I be wondering, like, well, well, 0:01:35.440 --> 0:01:37.600 how much of that is gonna you know, I mean 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:42.319 benefit people of color that look like me, like I 0:01:42.319 --> 0:01:44.480 don't never hear no plan on how that shit go. 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:46.640 And then they say a lot of bullshit that don't 0:01:46.680 --> 0:01:49.760 really mean nothing, but it sound good because they could 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:52.400 formulate a sentence with all these big ass words that 0:01:52.440 --> 0:01:55.720 don't nobody understand. And I really just be looking at 0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:58.840 him like bitch ass y'all. 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.920 Well, gap, here's the deal. Remember we saw the guy 0:02:00.960 --> 0:02:05.200 in San Quentin. There's nobody better in Oakland to start 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:08.920 with the youth of the city, in all parts of Oakland. 0:02:08.960 --> 0:02:10.920 I mean the guy, the guy from Oakland that we 0:02:11.000 --> 0:02:13.160 met in San que Yes, that's. 0:02:12.919 --> 0:02:15.760 Yeah, twenty five to life, two different paths, correct. 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:19.640 But my point is for Marshawn, there's nobody I know 0:02:19.919 --> 0:02:22.880 on this planet that can step into Oakland and know 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:26.800 the soil and know the blocks, and know every corner 0:02:26.840 --> 0:02:30.240 store and every restaurant and every shop and every building 0:02:30.320 --> 0:02:34.400 in every high school than Marshawn. And what's better to 0:02:34.440 --> 0:02:37.959 start with having someone who knows everything about the city 0:02:38.560 --> 0:02:39.760 to fix the city. 0:02:40.320 --> 0:02:44.680 What about figuring out the tools which you fix the city. 0:02:44.800 --> 0:02:47.720 Understanding how government and governing work. 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:49.880 Well, that's that's part of your job. 0:02:50.120 --> 0:02:52.840 As his campaign, I got a mother Yeah, I'm saying, 0:02:53.280 --> 0:02:55.880 I got a motherfucker who's sitting right across from me 0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.840 right now, who got the blueprint to this shit. It's like, 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:01.880 come on, bro, you gotta quit selling me short. 0:03:01.919 --> 0:03:04.880 Though I'm not selling you short. I'm just I'm just 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.440 I'm playing devil's advocate. I'm just telling you what your 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:10.560 opponents will. They're gonna come after you on this point. 0:03:10.880 --> 0:03:13.520 He has no governing experience. What the hell are we 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:16.960 doing with an outsider, even if he's from Oakland and 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:20.360 he's the insider as it relates to everything happening outside 0:03:20.400 --> 0:03:21.120 of city. 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:24.040 Hall, but not you know, I answer that question, yes, sir, 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.560 teck me. I got the governor on my side. What 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:27.240 you're talking about. 0:03:27.919 --> 0:03:30.680 You know, it was our partner here's birthday the other 0:03:30.760 --> 0:03:31.919 day and we had some good. 0:03:31.880 --> 0:03:35.560 Ye years old forty nine years old. 0:03:35.640 --> 0:03:38.000 We enjoyed a good little boozy lunch. More Sean, we 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:40.680 had a few drinks at tequila for you since we 0:03:40.760 --> 0:03:42.440 know you're on set in New Mexico and you can. 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:44.880 Man, I put one up for you. I had him 0:03:44.880 --> 0:03:47.640 bring me in a bottle specifically after I sent you 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.280 to the happy Birthday, I went and had me and 0:03:50.360 --> 0:03:52.040 shot for you, big dog. You know what I mean, 0:03:53.080 --> 0:03:55.960 I really appreciate it, but I will tell you this much. Yeah, 0:03:55.960 --> 0:03:58.040 I mean on a more serious note. And y'all know 0:03:58.120 --> 0:04:01.120 how I don't like to be too seriou is. But 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:04.480 you know that whole thing with the mayor ship and 0:04:04.560 --> 0:04:06.120 all that, like you know, I mean, I got, I 0:04:06.120 --> 0:04:08.480 got excited as fuck, and I'm like, damn, you know what, 0:04:09.120 --> 0:04:11.000 you know, I might be able to make a change 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:15.080 and do something you know, really uh really exciting for 0:04:15.400 --> 0:04:17.600 you know, for my sitting and ship. And I was 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.160 thinking to myself like, damn, you know what, man if 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:22.680 I could get you know, the support and the love 0:04:22.800 --> 0:04:25.800 you know, I mean from Gavin and you know, really, 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.520 you know, sit down and really get into this ship. 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:31.599 But then when I seen you come on set today 0:04:31.720 --> 0:04:34.240 and I seen that you had on some panda dunks, 0:04:34.560 --> 0:04:37.400 I was like, if that motherfucker was to come and 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:41.440 meet me with them shoes on, before he could open, 0:04:42.920 --> 0:04:46.960 before he open his mouth, I would send that motherfucker 0:04:47.080 --> 0:04:51.200 right to god Damn shoe palace, uh pay less shoe store, 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.720 Marshall's Ross and we would have to go and give 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.279 a fuck if you came in some water marcuss. But 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.000 we gonna get you up out of the pandas thought, 0:05:00.040 --> 0:05:00.480 my boy. 0:05:01.080 --> 0:05:03.320 What about what about my Snoop? What about my Snoop 0:05:03.400 --> 0:05:05.480 sketchers with the with the dope smoke in the box. 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:07.040 You don't even have to tie them, you know what, 0:05:07.320 --> 0:05:10.039 I'm gonna just say like this, my boy fresh, you 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:12.120 know I love the ship out of Snoop, But I'm 0:05:12.120 --> 0:05:15.560 gonna just say them, uh them are for health reasons. 0:05:15.600 --> 0:05:18.040 To the reason, and why you keep stepping in them 0:05:18.080 --> 0:05:20.680 like that? You got some you got some ship going 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:23.480 on with your feet and your ankles and everything, so. 0:05:23.760 --> 0:05:27.520 You can't bet down, You can't help you use fingers anymore. 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:29.760 You get a pass with those What the hell? 0:05:29.839 --> 0:05:30.960 By the way. I'm serious. 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.520 I'm a little offended on behalf of Nike, my sponsor. 0:05:33.960 --> 0:05:35.359 What is wrong with these shoes? 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:37.880 What is wrong with It's not nothing wrong but the 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:44.240 pandas though there. That's like, that's like, that's like a them, 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.480 a one and done. You throw them on one time 0:05:46.520 --> 0:05:49.360 and then you you throw them motherfuckers away, donate them 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:53.880 Salvation Army, uh Buffalo exchange, good will one of them 0:05:53.920 --> 0:05:56.240 type of ones like that. So after this you retire 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:59.400 the motherfuckers. And then what we do is you let 0:05:59.400 --> 0:06:01.359 me know what's and then we get you on some 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:03.560 right feats so you could be official. 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:05.920 My boy, what are you wearing right now? You're talking 0:06:05.960 --> 0:06:07.760 a big game. I want to see your damn shoes? 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:10.599 Man, Man, I got the I got the Baltimorees on 0:06:10.760 --> 0:06:11.080 right now. 0:06:11.240 --> 0:06:12.960 I don't even know what the hell that is? 0:06:14.000 --> 0:06:14.599 What is that? 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:16.120 You know? Some slight? 0:06:16.279 --> 0:06:22.440 Damn I didn't know those are legit? Are you gonna 0:06:22.440 --> 0:06:25.760 wear those once twice? I'm seriously no. 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:30.880 Bs, No, I actually work out in needs all right. 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:34.240 Bill Moreshawn, real talk. We're gonna get our ten point 0:06:34.240 --> 0:06:38.599 agenda together. We're gonna have a meeting ten points tomorrow 0:06:38.680 --> 0:06:41.240 or Monday with me and the governor here and we're 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.920 to get our ten point agenda talking points. 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:48.880 Childcare, healthcare, education, public safety, UH, redevelopment. 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:49.840 I'm talking about. 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:52.719 Parks and Rex and reck. I mean everything from just 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:56.920 getting the hoops up with nets and refurbished to start there. 0:06:57.000 --> 0:06:59.279 There should not be a basketball hoop that doesn't have 0:06:59.320 --> 0:07:00.000 a brand new day. 0:07:00.240 --> 0:07:02.640 Well, there is an opening, right If you don't have 0:07:02.680 --> 0:07:04.360 a net, that means you don't give a damn about 0:07:04.400 --> 0:07:05.640 the community. You got to keep it. 0:07:05.800 --> 0:07:07.720 I mean to me, it's a symbol, simple thing. 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:09.840 Something As I going to school and I don't see 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.520 basketball net, I'm like, this is not a well managed school. 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:28.480 Marshaun, I got a specialist rate for you. Born in Bogata, Columbia, 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:35.560 grew up in Queens. An unbelievable comedian, actor, producer, activist, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:40.640 icon from some incredible movies like Mulin Rouge and John Wick, 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:48.960 one of your favorites. Let's welcome in the incredible John Leguizamo. Hey, Hey, 0:07:48.960 --> 0:07:50.920 he's happy about the Mets right now, isn't he? 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.560 John? Who is not happy about the Mets? 0:07:54.440 --> 0:07:56.040 Were you there the other night? 0:07:56.680 --> 0:08:00.400 Nah? I'm in DC putting up a play doing with 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.760 some theater to what I'm doing theater. Yeah, I wrote 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.440 my next theater pieces here at Arena and DC. 0:08:05.840 --> 0:08:11.880 Gang as tight as. 0:08:09.840 --> 0:08:13.600 John is not just like writer producer, I mean theater. 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:15.320 That's where real actors come from. 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:17.880 Look, hey, Gavin, don't be bro. You ain't got to 0:08:17.920 --> 0:08:20.640 be a hater all your life. Gavin's okay, let it 0:08:20.720 --> 0:08:21.320 bring right. 0:08:22.040 --> 0:08:24.640 I like hater. I like haters. They keep you fresh, 0:08:24.800 --> 0:08:25.800 keep you on your toes. 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:27.520 That's right, that's right. 0:08:27.600 --> 0:08:30.320 John Marshawn thinks he's like a celebrity actor. 0:08:30.360 --> 0:08:32.280 Now he's like, he's like he's getting into this. 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:36.120 He's filming right now in New Mexico, not California, which 0:08:36.160 --> 0:08:38.040 is all another conversation around. 0:08:38.520 --> 0:08:44.320 Have that conversation. Have that conversation, right, business. 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:46.120 I know I'll watching on that. 0:08:46.760 --> 0:08:49.840 Stay tuned in January, I'll be doing some good things. 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.520 Get you back from New York, get back to California. 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:55.520 Hey, big dog, can you just tell me how to 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.240 pronounce your mass name the right way? 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.360 No, No, don't try. You're gonna get and it's gonna 0:09:01.440 --> 0:09:01.800 hurt you. 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:04.320 That's all right. I'm here, all right. 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:05.920 If you're willing to take the risk. 0:09:06.000 --> 0:09:09.640 Yeah, let me turn off speaker up directly ahead. 0:09:09.120 --> 0:09:17.400 Leg LEGI, this is good, that's perfect. Ten minutes it 0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:19.679 goes away. It fades, all. 0:09:19.720 --> 0:09:22.200 Right, I put it out there, I put the demo down, 0:09:22.240 --> 0:09:23.320 so I'm all good with that. 0:09:23.640 --> 0:09:26.120 Well, you know, John, one thing that hasn't faded is 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:27.640 your career, which is next level. 0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:30.800 I mean, it is no BS like I thought. 0:09:30.880 --> 0:09:33.000 We all kind of feel like we know you, uh 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:36.760 anyone obviously that has been around for the last few decades. 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.360 But it is a hell of a thing when you 0:09:39.400 --> 0:09:43.160 start adding up the number of movies, the incredible work 0:09:43.200 --> 0:09:46.760 you've done on Broadway one man shows and all these 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:51.040 Netflix series, the thing you just did to MSNBC last year, 0:09:51.080 --> 0:09:53.480 and now of course we'll talk about PBS and this 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:54.840 extraordinary work you're doing. 0:09:55.320 --> 0:09:56.520 Gavin, I'm a big. 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.360 Hell of a career, brother, hell of a career. 0:09:59.520 --> 0:09:59.840 Thank you. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.560 So it wasn't easy getting here. 0:10:02.600 --> 0:10:02.800 You know. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.960 I was a problem child in Jackson and I's Queens 0:10:06.520 --> 0:10:10.400 during White Flight, which wasn't easy either because every white 0:10:10.400 --> 0:10:12.920 group that was leaving beat me up. But then all 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:14.800 my Latin people came up and they beat me up too, 0:10:14.840 --> 0:10:17.760 so I could never get they must be maybe I'm 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:21.080 the problem, you know, I could be the missing link, 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:25.719 you know. And it was tough. This industry was not easy, man. 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:27.400 It was not easy to be a Latin man in 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:29.520 this industry, and I'm sure it wasn't easy being a 0:10:29.520 --> 0:10:35.600 black man either. But you know, I persevered and I 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:39.559 went to places that did accept me, which was performance 0:10:39.679 --> 0:10:42.360 ard in theater and comedy clubs where there was a 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:46.560 little less systemic racism going on. Because Joe, when I 0:10:46.640 --> 0:10:50.600 when I started up, uh, there was a thing called 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:53.520 the casting breakdown every Monday, and it would tell you 0:10:53.600 --> 0:10:55.839 what rows were available. It was like Jim Crow a 0:10:55.880 --> 0:10:59.800 little bit because it would be white lead, white romantic, 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:04.679 white doctor, white lawyer, Latin drug dealer. And even if 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:06.560 you asked your agent, even if you had a big agent, 0:11:06.600 --> 0:11:08.480 and you asked, can you please let them let them 0:11:08.679 --> 0:11:10.880 I want to do my monologue ball them, Well, they 0:11:11.160 --> 0:11:13.600 won't see you. They won't see you because they said 0:11:13.600 --> 0:11:17.520 white guy. So you know, it was it was like that. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.400 So you know, I knew this system was rigged against me. 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:22.840 So I was gonna have to try to find my 0:11:22.920 --> 0:11:25.160 opportunities wherever I could find them. 0:11:25.840 --> 0:11:27.880 But John, you've been calling out, I mean for as 0:11:27.960 --> 0:11:31.400 much as changed, not a lot has changed, right or 0:11:32.120 --> 0:11:34.880 do you feel like that's it's beginning to change. I 0:11:34.880 --> 0:11:37.320 mean you've been you haven't been shy calling this out, 0:11:37.320 --> 0:11:40.400 the lack of progress as it relates to representation, as 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:42.320 it relates to opportunities. 0:11:42.360 --> 0:11:43.920 I mean it's it's you know. 0:11:44.360 --> 0:11:48.000 For as for as much progress as we've seen, I 0:11:48.000 --> 0:11:51.280 think people are surprised to see how few lead roles, 0:11:51.320 --> 0:11:54.559 particularly for Latin and latinos. 0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.400 Yeah, I mean, Gavin, that's a great question because things 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:03.360 are better, but did not better enough, because Latin people 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:05.600 are twenty percent of the population but with less than 0:12:05.640 --> 0:12:09.080 five percent of the leading roles, with thirty percent of 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:14.319 the US box office sometimes even more on the big 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.079 hits for almost forty percent. Sometimes that's a huge amount 0:12:17.120 --> 0:12:20.440 of money that were given the industry and only getting 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:23.720 five percent of the leads, one percent of the stories 0:12:23.760 --> 0:12:28.120 being told, less than points zero something of the executives. 0:12:28.280 --> 0:12:31.439 That's not parody, that's not equity. That's not fair, and 0:12:32.360 --> 0:12:34.560 it's not like we land people just got here. This 0:12:34.600 --> 0:12:37.720 has been going on forever. Man. When the founding fathers 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.840 of Hollywood got to LA in the early nineteen hundreds, 0:12:41.840 --> 0:12:46.079 it had just been Mexico seventy years prior. They walked 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:51.280 into an almost Latin city, almost completely Latin city. Of course, 0:12:52.080 --> 0:12:55.240 it was kind of apartheid because Latin people and Black 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:59.880 people were segregated, We were redlined, We were being experimented on. 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.679 Latin women were being sterilized against their will and not 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:07.520 against their knowledge, lynchings against Latin and black people. You know, 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.400 Latin people are being shot, burned alive. I mean, there 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.080 was a lot of terrible things going on when the 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.800 founding fathers came, but they didn't even think of, oh, 0:13:15.880 --> 0:13:19.960 let's include the culture that's right here. They didn't, and 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:22.440 it didn't you know, it's been going on for you know, 0:13:22.640 --> 0:13:25.280 for the beginning, since the beginnings of Silent Film. 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.280 And John I'm curious, I mean, in your own exploration 0:13:28.400 --> 0:13:31.480 of all of this, and as you dove much deeper 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.480 with so many of these projects in the last few years, 0:13:36.280 --> 0:13:39.760 were you even surprised at how bad that history was 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.840 to uncover it. I mean, you talk about lynchings, we 0:13:42.880 --> 0:13:45.560 don't typically connect that to the Latino community. 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:46.840 You think about the African American. 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:50.800 Beauty sterilizations, as you say, and the redlining, which is 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:54.160 so sort of dominant in our least culture that it's 0:13:54.200 --> 0:13:57.960 predominantly an African American issue. Were you surprised to the 0:13:58.040 --> 0:13:59.920 depths of that kind of discrimination. 0:14:00.360 --> 0:14:03.080 Yeah, I mean, obviously black people have had it much 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.720 worse than Latin people. You know, it's not a competition, 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:09.640 and I'm not trying to make it that over nine 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:14.000 thousand black people were lynched more for us, it was 0:14:14.040 --> 0:14:18.760 six thousand Latin people, So you know, it's lesser numbers. 0:14:18.760 --> 0:14:22.360 But you know, you know, the second most brutalized by 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.320 the police are Latinos. The second largest ethnic group in 0:14:25.400 --> 0:14:30.320 jails are Latinos. You know, the lowest paid worker in 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:35.720 America is a Latin woman. You know what I mean? Yeah, 0:14:35.840 --> 0:14:39.840 you know, finding out these facts of the horrors that 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.240 happened to Latin people, because you wonder, we've been here forever. 0:14:42.280 --> 0:14:44.080 It's not we just got here, the smith that we've 0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:47.280 just got here. No, we keep coming, but we've been 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.640 here forever. And why aren't we at a higher place? 0:14:51.680 --> 0:14:54.080 Why and we are at top of the pyramids somehow? 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:57.160 Well because of all these things, you know, our land 0:14:57.200 --> 0:14:59.760 wealth was taken from us, our political power was taken 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:02.440 from us, you know, and we were segregated. 0:15:02.440 --> 0:15:02.600 You know. 0:15:02.640 --> 0:15:06.160 The first case bought in America against segregation was the 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:11.520 Latin family, the Maestas family in Denver, Colorado, in nineteen eleven. 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:15.320 The first young boy lynch in America was a Latino 0:15:15.400 --> 0:15:18.800 boy in nineteen fourteen, a fourteen year old Antonio Gomez, 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.480 for respecting a white man in Texas. The first woman 0:15:22.600 --> 0:15:26.920 lynch in America was a latinas Joseppa Segovia during the 0:15:26.920 --> 0:15:30.400 Gold Rush in California, because a white minor raped her 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:32.840 and she shot him, but because she wouldn't show remorse, 0:15:32.880 --> 0:15:36.120 they lynched her. So yeah, we let people have experienced 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.040 a lot of oppression, and that's probably why. Also it's 0:15:39.080 --> 0:15:42.440 not in history textbooks, because you put that in history textbooks, 0:15:42.440 --> 0:15:45.200 then you've got to give us political power. You gotta 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:47.800 respect us, You got to give us something back for 0:15:47.840 --> 0:15:50.040 our contributions in making of America. 0:15:50.160 --> 0:15:52.560 Marshaw. And I imagine a lot of that resonates with you. 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.040 Huh, Yeah, dude, considered in our history. And I mean, 0:15:56.120 --> 0:15:59.040 you know, and I think especially in California. I mean, 0:15:59.040 --> 0:16:01.840 I'm not sure it is all through California, but I 0:16:01.920 --> 0:16:05.120 know in northern California, like I fucked with my meagles, Like, 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:09.600 I got a lot of a lot of uh fucking 0:16:09.640 --> 0:16:13.440 primos that I just I resonate with that I fucked 0:16:13.480 --> 0:16:16.120 with like so I mean, and then you know, they 0:16:16.200 --> 0:16:18.240 grew up in the same neighborhood with us. It's like 0:16:19.240 --> 0:16:21.320 where I lived out on fifty fifth and foot Hill, 0:16:21.680 --> 0:16:25.040 it was what they called it, uh, the Green Apartments, 0:16:25.240 --> 0:16:27.640 which was where the Blacks was at, and then right 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:31.600 next door it was the Mexican Apartments. And I mean, 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:34.640 you know, the same struggles that that we were dealing with, 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:36.520 they was dealing with it as well. And I mean 0:16:36.760 --> 0:16:41.720 just that area alone, it was it was the ship 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.720 was tough, but it was also you know of hard 0:16:44.760 --> 0:16:48.640 workers and individuals who you know, I mean held family 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.160 to a standard where you know, I mean, and we 0:16:51.240 --> 0:16:54.360 started to see like when they called the fucking police, 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.760 they would come to both apartment buildings, and that ship 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:00.440 was young. I mean, it was something that you know, 0:17:00.440 --> 0:17:04.080 I mean our witness growing up and I've seen. But 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:06.879 you know, when you start speaking to the you know, 0:17:06.920 --> 0:17:11.000 the history of Latin culture, like you know, they don't 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:14.280 teach that in schools and they don't tell us too 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.520 much about that. And now you start to see like 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.399 they're even starting to erase, like you know, the black 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.000 the black history of all of that ship in school. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:25.639 It's crazy to me because we're sitting here with the 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:28.120 governor and it's like, Bro, you act like you don't 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.159 know that that ship going on, Like who the f 0:17:30.680 --> 0:17:32.440 I know them? Ship has come across your desk. When 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:34.600 you see that ship, I think you got to think 0:17:34.600 --> 0:17:37.520 in your mind, like, oh ship, John and Marshan wouldn't 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.720 approve of this ship. We can't let this we. 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:42.800 Got I mean, it's as John was just saying, it's 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:46.280 c rt uh ESG, it's d e I. 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:47.560 Anything with three damn letters. 0:17:47.600 --> 0:17:50.520 It seems to yeah, man, the alphabet boys. 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.560 Man, no, it's but man, no, this is but it's 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:54.600 a real it's a real thing. 0:17:54.600 --> 0:17:54.879 You're right. 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.200 They're trying to rewrite history, censor historical facts. They were 0:17:58.480 --> 0:18:01.240 John's well aware, and in Florida a couple of years ago, 0:18:01.560 --> 0:18:05.960 they actually had textbooks that were changed as it relates 0:18:06.000 --> 0:18:08.920 to the civil rights movement with Rosa Parks, and they 0:18:08.960 --> 0:18:12.720 took out her race as if her race was relevant 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:15.479 in the context of the civil rights movement. But John's 0:18:15.520 --> 0:18:17.919 going a deeper point which is it's one thing to 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.120 censor those historical factor to rewrite history, but a lot 0:18:21.160 --> 0:18:23.040 of the Latino history was never even written. 0:18:23.280 --> 0:18:24.760 There's not even a lot to a race. 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.360 And I imagine a big part of what you're trying 0:18:27.400 --> 0:18:30.480 to do with American historia and others is really start 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:34.400 to tell that story so that we can get our 0:18:34.520 --> 0:18:35.200 history straight. 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:39.800 Johns Hopkins University and you need those US did a 0:18:39.840 --> 0:18:44.080 study and found that eighty seven percent of Latino contributions 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:46.560 into the making of the US are not in history 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.680 textbooks and the thirteen percent that is gets the less 0:18:49.720 --> 0:18:53.080 than five sentences. So yeah, what I was trying to 0:18:53.119 --> 0:18:56.840 do with my show, The Until History of Latinos on 0:18:56.920 --> 0:19:02.240 PBS was to correct that, to stop the erasure, the 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:06.720 crossing out, the deletion of our contributions, because you know, 0:19:07.359 --> 0:19:10.919 it's systemic, and when we Latin people don't know what 0:19:11.040 --> 0:19:15.440 we've contributed, we have less power. When other people don't 0:19:15.440 --> 0:19:18.600 know our contributions, they have less respect for us, and 0:19:18.640 --> 0:19:22.120 then things can happen like being demonized, like Trump demonizes 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:24.520 us and says he's going to deport ten million or 0:19:24.520 --> 0:19:28.720 more Latinos. That's a horrible that's a horror thing for me. 0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.360 I mean, because how you're going to police that, You're 0:19:31.400 --> 0:19:34.800 going to profile all Latin people and even American citizens, 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.639 which has happened in American history. It's not the first time. 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:43.159 The Repatriation Act in the nineteen thirties deported two million people, 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:46.679 more than half were American citizens, and they sent them 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:49.159 to Mexico. And these people had never grown up there 0:19:49.320 --> 0:19:51.840 been there. They didn't even speak Spanish, but they were 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:54.760 all Latino. They were profiled. And then happening in the 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:57.280 wet Back Act in the nineteen fifties to the seventies, 0:19:57.400 --> 0:19:59.960 a million Latinos would deported and half of those were 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:01.280 American citizens. 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:03.760 So I'm afraid the same thing's gonna happen if Trump 0:20:03.800 --> 0:20:04.399 gets elected. 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:07.040 If I make sure they really they really had an 0:20:07.040 --> 0:20:08.400 act called the Wetback Act. 0:20:08.920 --> 0:20:11.440 Yeah, can you believe that shit? They have the audainy. 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:14.960 It could have been the Greaser Act, it could have 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:17.720 been the Spick Act. I mean, it was horrorful. 0:20:17.960 --> 0:20:20.040 What year was that, John, the Wetback Act? I can't 0:20:20.080 --> 0:20:20.600 even believe that. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.000 Nineteen fifties governmenteen fifties. 0:20:23.040 --> 0:20:25.120